President’s Letter

October 2023

Dear Med Chi Members

Welcome to our new Medico Chirurgical Society session for 2023-2024.

Our new Secretary who is Dr Lesley Smart, and I, are delighted to be able to send you our programme for the coming year.

Firstly though, I would like to sincerely thank our outgoing President Dr Ailsa Gebbie, and our outgoing Secretary Dr Ruhy Parris, for all their commitment, hard work and enthusiasm during the last few years. Managing to keep Med Chi meetings going online during the pandemic was a major achievement and undoubtedly supported the Society immeasurably.

We are members of a Society which has been active for more than 200 years – which is extraordinary. During the pandemic we could only raise our glasses remotely to celebrate the Med Chi’s 200th anniversary – but now that restrictions are eased we are meeting in person once again, and enjoying the social benefits that our Society gives, as well as its intellectual stimulation.

This session, in addition to our Annual Dinner in April, we are going to have a Burns Supper in January 2024 – which I hope will be every bit as enjoyable as those in previous years. Our venue will be once again the Academy Main Hall [which is spacious and airy] and we will be forwarding full details for booking nearer the time.

In December we are arranging a sociable trip to hear the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Usher Hall, at which Nicola Benedetti will be a soloist. And In addition we have some excellent speakers coming to talk to us for our regular Friday evening meetings. The topics covered are wide ranging [as you will see from the attached programme] and, as always, we will start each Friday lecture session with a drink and a bit of time for members to chat and catch up with each other.

We are very pleased that our first speaker on October 29th is Dr Gavin Francis, a local GP and an acclaimed author. He has spoken at the Edinburgh International Book Festival and his talk title is : “Medicine Old and New”. As well as his current NHS experience, he has recently completed a study of the 17th century physician Sir Thomas Browne – so I suspect that he will bring many insights.

May I encourage you to feel free to bring guests to our meetings. We are a medically focused society but we do welcome those with a less medical background who have an interest in our programme. If a guest wishes to come repeatedly to Med Chi meetings, we would encourage them to join the Society, as for a modest annual fee they will then be kept updated on all our events.

Finally I feel very honoured to have taken over the role of President of the Med Chi this year and thank all members for your support.

With kindest regards

Rosie Dixon
Email: president@edmedchi.co.uk